Smallpond Computing

The Ultimate (well, not quite) Perl/Tk Page!!!

Most everyone seems to be learning Perl just to do CGIs
or to scan text files a la AWK. It seems to me that there ought
to be more people writing open source applications in perl/Tk. How many
times have I gotten an app that does almost what I want but doesn't put
its output in the right format? ... or if it only could sort by date instead
of alpha? ... or if it was only in Korean instead of English? You get the
idea. Perl/Tk is ideal since perl is easy to modify and Tk
provides a complete set of features for us GUI addicts.

Anyway, this site has some code or links to some useful Perl/Tk non-CGI
applications. Use these as is or as examples to write your own. Send comments
or contributions to
smallpond@juno.com.

-- Steve
Smallpond Computing of Framingham, Mass.

Make sure that in addition to the standard Perl distribution, you have
the Perl Tk toolkit. If you need to get it, use the CPAN PERL function:

perl -MCPAN -e'install Tk;'

Or, here's a link to CPAN. Go to modules by category -> User Interfaces -> Tk.
To get the latest debugged code, download, unpack and build:

Tk800.xxx.tar.gz

[ A ]
Tested in AIX 4/5 (need to get Tk from CPAN)

[ B ]
Tested in BSD

[ H ]
Tested in HP/UX

[ L ]
Tested in Linux

[ S ]
Tested in Solaris

[ W ]
Tested in Windows 98 with ActiveState Perl

nsupdate.ptk[ L ]
Script for managing dynamic DNS. This wrapper for the nsupdate command line program
provides a graphical tool for updating a DNS server.

ppp_setup.pl[ B ]
Script for configuring PPP. A must if you have multiple dial-up accounts.
This program was sent by Ĝan Ŭesli Starling

map.pl[ A L ]
This map drawing app was suggested by an article in
Server/Workstation Expert by Cameron Laird. Maps
are available in many formats on the web, and Perl
is good at processing the ASCII formats.

makecdlabel.pl[ W L ]
Perl program which takes an image file
and creates a PDF suitable for printing on a color
printer, using one of the CD label sheets from the included CDlabel
module. It requires downloading the PDF modules from
CPAN.

Tkc[ A L ]
My own contribution to the cause is a file browser similar to the many
two-paned file browser tools for the Windows O/S.
Latest version!

Games
Games are a natural for Perl/TK. How about an adventure game where
you can change the layout? Or hangman where you can add your own words?
Maybe I'm a control freak, but I like the idea of being able to modify
the games on my computer. You can't do that when playing a cgi. Here are
some links to standalone games.

Mastering Perl/Tk by Nancy Walsh
and Steve Lidie. Bookpool is much less than B&N or Amazon and (so far as
I know) doesn't track what you look at. Also online at O'Reilly, but
you should really buy a copy.